These three quickhacks do not form a silent takedown combo. They cover three different moments in an infiltration: Ping reveals the local network, Reboot Optics clears one watcher’s detection progress, and Weapon Glitch suppresses a gun when the approach fails. Only Ping is untraceable, and none of them knocks anyone unconscious. A clean run still requires you to bypass the target or perform a non-lethal takedown, then conceal the body if a patrol could find it.
Ping the Network Before You Move
Use Ping while you are still behind cover and deciding where to go. It is a Covert quickhack with 0% traceability, so scanning the local network does not begin a trace. The upload reveals connected enemies and devices, turning an unfamiliar room into a map of watchers, cameras, and usable infrastructure.
When you enter a hostile floor, Ping a camera or guard before stepping into the open. Check which silhouette covers the corridor, whether a camera watches the next doorway, and which device could support another route. At Tier 5, Ping also highlights devices and lets you quickhack them through walls, making that reconnaissance actionable without exposing yourself first.
Treat every revealed silhouette as route information, not proof that the route is safe. Ping does not neutralize guards, distract them, or remove their ability to notice you. Re-Ping when you enter a new subnet or move beyond the group you originally revealed; otherwise, you may be planning around an incomplete picture.
Reboot Optics Buys One Crossing, Not Invisibility
Use Reboot Optics when a single guard blocks the route that Ping helped you choose. Outside combat, the hack resets that target’s current detection progress. It uploads in 0.3 seconds, but you still need to target the watcher before the meter completes. The hack does not conceal V or erase every observer in the room. It is also 15% traceable, so the opening comes with a network-trace risk.
Picture one guard watching a doorway you need to pass. Start the upload as their detection meter rises, cross immediately, then break line of sight behind the next piece of cover. From there, bypass the guard or work around behind them. Do not spend the reset standing in the open: Reboot Optics has cleared that guard’s detection progress, not granted temporary invisibility.
Higher tiers lengthen the opportunity rather than changing that basic rule. Tier 2 extends the effect from 8 to 15 seconds, while Tier 4 blinds the target outside combat. Those upgrades make a guarded crossing more forgiving, but they still affect one watcher rather than the whole room. Once combat begins, Reboot Optics serves a different purpose by reducing the target’s accuracy; it does not recreate the same stealth opening.
Weapon Glitch Is an Escape Tool, Not a Cloak
Weapon Glitch becomes useful when stealth has already started to fail. At its base Tier 2, its 0.3-second upload jams the target’s weapon for 14 seconds, reduces their accuracy, disables Smart targeting, and prevents Tech weapons from penetrating cover. That disruption can deny the target normal use of the gun, but it does not reset detection, hide V, or neutralize the guard. Use it to create room to disengage, not as a stealth opener.
Suppose the planned crossing works on the first guard, but a second guard sees you and draws a weapon. Upload Weapon Glitch, move behind hard cover, and use the jam to break sight rather than trading fire. Hard cover matters here: the hack removes Tech-weapon penetration while active, and its accuracy penalty makes incoming fire less reliable, but neither effect turns open ground into safety. Because Weapon Glitch is 15% traceable, lingering after the escape only replaces one problem with another.
Keep it in the cyberdeck as insurance for a broken approach. Tier 4 crosses an additional line: it detonates the target’s primary weapon, forces them to switch to a secondary, and then applies the core glitch—but the detonation deals damage. If your non-lethal rule also means no damage at all, do not rely on that tier’s detonation as your recovery plan.
The Loop Works Only If You Respect the Trace
Decide what has changed, choose the hack that answers that state, and move before its opening closes.
| Trigger | Action | Next move |
|---|---|---|
| The route is still unmapped | Ping a camera or connected target | Identify watchers, cover, and a path before leaving safety |
| One unaware guard controls the crossing | Reboot Optics | Cross, bypass them, or get behind them for a non-lethal takedown |
| Detection becomes a drawn weapon | Weapon Glitch | Reach hard cover, break line of sight, and disengage |
If the route requires removing a guard, reach them before combat begins and choose the non-lethal takedown. Hide the body when a patrol could find it, because discovery can trigger a search. Once the target enters combat, a stealth takedown is no longer available; use Weapon Glitch to reach cover and disengage instead of forcing the chokehold.
Track network exposure alongside the physical route. Ping is untraceable, while Reboot Optics and Weapon Glitch are each traceable. Tier 4 Memory Wipe can make quickhacks queued after it untraceable and can reduce trace progress outside combat, but that protection costs another deck slot and more RAM. If you cannot absorb that cost or finish before the trace completes, stay with Ping and find a route that does not require a control upload.